April 29, 2008

Naturally the media makes a big story out of this: a drug raid gone wrong. But they remain silent about the thousands of raids that send drug lords to jail and result in the legal confiscation of property that keep our police forces on the watch for dangerous drugs.

Brooklyn Park police were looking for a meth lab, but they found a fish tank and the chemicals needed to maintain it.

Oops. But of course clandestine drug labs are usually disguised as something they are not. A fish tank could be used to hide a drug lab. Although sometimes, as in this case, a fish tank can turn out to be just that: a fish tank.

Adams, a 54-year-old former nurse who said she suffers from a bad back caused by a patient who attacked her a few years ago, was handcuffed. So was her 49-year-old husband.

“They brought us here and said once we clear that area, you can sit down and you will not speak to each other,” she said.

This is standard operating procedure. Police must protect themselves from the often violent and unpredictable drug crazed folk they come into contact with on a daily basis. If Adams had turned out to be a meth (death) cook, nobody would care whether or not she had a bad back. So why is it relevant?

“Ohmigod,” Adams said as she recalled police breaking down her door and flashing the search warrant. “I just kept saying to them, ‘you’ve got the wrong house.’ ”

Sometimes people, including our heroic police, make mistakes. In this case, no harm done. The Adams’ should feel honored to have been able to cooperate with those who protect and serve. As should we all if such a rare event were to happen to us.

Roehl said the drug task force was acting on a tip from a subcontractor for CenterPoint Energy, who had been in the home Friday to install a hot water heater.

“He got hit with a chemical smell that he said made him light headed, feel kind of nauseous,” Roehl said.

That’s exactly what one would expect when encountering a drug lab. This subcontractor did the right thing and should serve as an example to us all.

“Everything this person told us turned out to be true, with the exception of what the purpose of the lab was,” Roehl said.

CenterPoint energy maintains the home was “unsafe” and it would have “irresponsible” for the subcontractor not to report it.

Absolutely. Sadly the Adams don’t see it that way and are looking for a lawyer to help them cash in. Whose side are these people on? The police or the drug thugs?

“I could say that about my neighbor – I smelled something when I went in their house,” she said. “Does that make it right for them to go in there and break the door down and cuff you? I think not!”

Excuse me, ma’am, but you’ve got that completely backwards. How are we going to win the war on drugs with such a defeatist attitude? If we’re going to win, we have to stick together. An alert nose could bring us that much closer to victory and send another criminal to jail. Isn’t that worth it? An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

If a strange smell is coming from your neighbor’s house, don’t hesitate. That could cost lives. Call the police and turn them in. If the authorities find nothing, no harm done. But if they do and it results in another pothead or meth cook being sent to prison and their property confiscated, you just might earn a financial reward.

Even if you aren’t materially rewarded you will have the good feeling of doing the right thing to help win the war on dangerous drugs and will serve as a shining example to those in your neighborhood. One should always keep an eye out for one’s neighbors, to help protect their property from outsiders or to turn them in if they are breaking the law. We are all on one side or the other of that thin blue line. Which side are you on?